Nephi and his doubt

[GaleG]

Hello,
 
Would you help me understand these verses.
 
1 Nephi 19:4-6 says "Wherefore, I, Nephi, did make a record upon the other plates, which  
gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and  
destructions of my people. And this have I done, and commanded my people what they should  
do after I was gone; and that these plates should be handed down from one generation to  
another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord. And an  
account of my making these plates shall be given hereafter; and then, behold, I proceed  
according to that which I have spoken; and this I do that the more sacred things may be  
kept for the knowledge of my people. Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates  
save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I
would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in  
me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself".
 
What weakness, according to the flesh, did Nephi believe would prevent him from making
an accurate record?   
 
Did Nephi 'think' or 'know' his recordings of the wars, contentions, and destructions
of his people were sacred?    
 
Which others of old did he believe erred?

Thank you,

Gale

[mikbone]

1 hour ago, GaleG said:

What weakness, according to the flesh, did Nephi believe would prevent him from making
an accurate record?   

Which others of old did he believe erred?

He did not err.  His words are humbling to one as proud and weak as I.

Moroni's words as written in Mormon chapter 9 give a perfect explanation.

Quote

31 Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.

32 And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.

33 And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record.

See also Ether 12:23-26

Quote

 

23 And I said unto him: Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them;

24 And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them.

25 Thou hast also made our words powerful and great, even that we cannot write them; wherefore, when we write we behold our weakness, and stumble because of the placing of our words; and I fear lest the Gentiles shall mock at our words.

26 And when I had said this, the Lord spake unto me, saying: Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek, that they shall take no advantage of your weakness;

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by mikbone

[Anddenex]

9 hours ago, GaleG said:

Hello,
 
Would you help me understand these verses.
 
1 Nephi 19:4-6 says "Wherefore, I, Nephi, did make a record upon the other plates, which  
gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and  
destructions of my people. And this have I done, and commanded my people what they should  
do after I was gone; and that these plates should be handed down from one generation to  
another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord. And an  
account of my making these plates shall be given hereafter; and then, behold, I proceed  
according to that which I have spoken; and this I do that the more sacred things may be  
kept for the knowledge of my people. Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates  
save it be that I think it be sacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I
would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in  
me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself".
 
What weakness, according to the flesh, did Nephi believe would prevent him from making
an accurate record?   
 
Did Nephi 'think' or 'know' his recordings of the wars, contentions, and destructions
of his people were sacred?    
 
Which others of old did he believe erred?

Thank you,

Gale

What weakness, according to the flesh, did Nephi believe would prevent him from making an accurate record?   

@mikbone covered this pretty well. I have interpreted this to mean his "weakness" in writing. Later on Nephi says the following, "And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men." (emphasis mine)

Due to our weakness in writing we can see how some people will take advantage (make an offender for a word) out of something that is inspired. Nephi is in this verse providing two important aspects:

1) God supports us in our weakness when we are doing as he has commanded

2) He recognizes his own weakness, he recognizes the weakness of others, but he does not condemn them. Mikbone provide the verses of scripture pertaining to Moroni and his father Mormon.

Did Nephi 'think' or 'know' his recordings of the wars, contentions, and destructions of his people were sacred?

Nephi had two plates that he wrote upon and handed down. The small plates is what was considered sacred (revelations and teaching as given by the Holy Ghost). The large plates, or other plates, contained the history of the people.

Nephi knew that journal keeping (or record keeping) was sacred and important.  You can read 2 Nephi 25:26 and Jacob 1: 1-4 for further understanding of why they kept records, and why we have been commanded to do the same.

Nephi would have know that even in keeping the large plates that there would have been sacred things recorded, or that others might consider sacred; although, usually "sacred" refers to the small plates.

Which others of old did he believe erred?

It is not made clear as to who Nephi was specifically referring to. In my opinion, he would be meaning any and all the prophets before him. This would include his father, Lehi.

[Vort]

Write a lengthy history, @GaleG. Your choice of topic. Any topic at all. You name it. For the sake of ease, pick something you're intimately familiar with—say, an autobiography.

Will you make any mistakes?

You bet you will. At times, you will botch stories, misremember events, and give warped or perhaps even entirely untrue accounts. You will misattribute who said what. You will reverse the order of some events, maybe even reversing cause and effect. Despite your very best efforts, your memory will betray you.

You are a human being. As such, you are subject to all the imperfections and foolishness of human beings. I don't care how well you think you know your subject. You WILL be wrong about some things. The best you can do is, well, to do the best you can do.

Nephi was a human being, too. He was simply honest and introspective enough to realize that fact and what it implied, and make it explicit in his own writings. Mormon and Moroni do the same thing, as @mikbone mentioned.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Vort

[Vort]

@pam, I beg you on bended knee, please give me back the power to delete my own posts. Pleeeeeeeeeease. I promise I won't abuse it. We'll all be happier if I can just nuke dupes, unintentional quotes, or even the odd really stupid post.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Vort